Tray or crate

ABSTRACT

A tray or crate moulded from a plastics material has its side walls formed with outwardly projecting flanges extending along the top and bottom edges thereof and the major part of each side wall between the flanges is offset outwardly, but preferably not beyond the outer edges of the flanges. The tray or crate has externally ribbed and flanged corner portions which project above the tops of the side walls. The bottom and side walls of the tray or crate are preferably formed with apertures.

llnited State's ratent [191 Buffett [451 Mar. 11, 1975 TRAY 0R CRATE [75] Inventor: Thomas Vigus Buffett, London,

England [73] Assignee: international Partners Research Corporation, Panama City, Panama 22 Filed: Dec. 22, 1972 211 Appl. No.: 317,690

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data .Ian. 13, 1972 Great Britain 1752/72 [52] US. Cl. 220/72, 220/74 [51] int. Cl ..B65d1/42, B65d 1/22 [58] Field of Search 220/72, 74, 97 R, 97 D;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1967 Schwartz .L 220/72 Bockenstette 220/97 D Kepple 220/72 Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack 57 ABSTRACT A tray or crate moulded from a plastics material has its side walls formed with outwardly projecting flanges extending along the top and bottom edges thereof and the major part of each side wall between the flanges is offset outwardly, but preferably not beyond the outer edges of the flanges. The tray or crate has externally ribbed and flanged corner portions which project above the tops of the side walls. The bottom and side walls of the tray or crate arepreferably formed with apertures.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures FFZTENTEU HARI 1 I975 SHEET '1 OF 3 PATENTEB NARI 1 I975 SHEET 2 OF 3 PATENTEU 1 I975 71,870,188

sum 3 1153 TRAY on CRATE This invention relates to trays and crates.

' According to this invention there is provided a tray or crate of moulded construction and having one or more side walls thereof formed with outwardly projecting stiffening flanges extending along their top and bottom edges, at least part of each of said side walls being offset outwardly relative to those parts of the side walls adjoining said flanges. The tray or crate is preferably formed as a one-piece molded plastic unit.

In preferred constructions all the side walls have externally flanged top and bottom edges and outwardly offset intermediate parts as set forth above.

According to a preferred feature of the invention, the said flanges project outward at least as far as said part of the side wall. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the outer edges of said flanges are in vertical line with the offset parts of the side walls.

The invention also provides a tray or crate which is of moulded construction and which has at least two pairs of opposite side walls and corner portions between adjacent side walls, which corner portions project above the top edges of the side walls, each side wall of at least one of said pairs having a part thereof disposed outwardly of the top and bottom marginal portions of such wall. dr One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a tray according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the tray, and includes a sectional view of a corner portion on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a compound view of which the bottom half shows the tray in plan, and the top half is an inverted plan view party in section in the direction of the arrows 44 of FIG. I, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the tray.

Referring to the drawings, the tray shown is a onepiece molded plastic unit and has an apertured bottom wall with ribs 10a, apertured shorter side (or end) walls 11 and apertured longer side walls 12. Corner portions 13 are formed where the side walls meet and project upwards above the tops of the side walls 11 and 12. These corner portions are curved and have outwardly projecting vertical stiffening ribs 16, horizontal stiffening ribs 17 to 20 and inclined edge flanges 15. The bottom ribs 20 form continuations of horizontal ribs or flanges 21 extending along the bottom edges of the side walls ll, 12 but are disposed at a slightly higher level. Similarly ribs 18 are continuations of external flanges 22 extending along the top edges of the side walls 11, 12. The area of each side wall between the top and bottom flanges 21, 22 and the vertical ribs 16 comprises marginal portions 23 and an offset or intermediate or central portion 24 which is disposed in the plane of the outer edges of flanges 21, 22 and ribs 16. The central portion 24 is joined to marginal portions 23 by inclined portions 25 along its top and two ends and by a horizontal portion 26 along its bottom edge. Inclined webs 27 connect the horizontal portion 26 to the horizontal corner stiffening ribs 19.

The resulting shape of the side walls of the tray makes them stiff and strong and increases the effective volume of the tray. Fragile goods disposed in the tray against the bulging side walls are moreover protected by the external top and bottom flanges during placing of the trays side by side.

I claim:

1. A tray of moulded construction having two pairs of opposite upstanding side walls and curved corner portions extending between adjacent side walls, each of said side walls having outwardly projecting stiffening flanges extending along its top and bottom edges and vertical stiffening flanges where the side wall joins the corner portions, the whole of each side wall except those parts of the side wall adjoining said flanges being offset outwardly substantially into a plane containing the outer edges of said stiffening flanges.

2. A tray as claimed in claim 1 wherein the curved corner portions project above the tops of the side walls and have external horizontal stiffening ribs at their top edges.

3. A tray as claimed in claim 1 wherein said side walls have apertures therein.

4. A tray as claimed in claim 1 and formed as a onepiece molded plastic unit. 

1. A tray of moulded construction having two pairs of opposite upstanding side walls and curved corner portions extending between adjacent side walls, each of said side walls having outwardly projecting stiffening flanges extending along its top and bottom edges and vertical stiffening flanges where the side wall joins the corner portions, the whole of each side wall except those parts of the side wall adjoining said flanges being offset outwardly substantially into a plane containing the outer edges of said stiffening flanges.
 1. A tray of moulded construction having two pairs of opposite upstanding side walls and curved corner portions extending between adjacent side walls, each of said side walls having outwardly projecting stiffening flanges extending along its top and bottom edges and vertical stiffening flanges where the side wall joins the corner portions, the whole of each side wall except those parts of the side wall adjoining said flanges being offset outwardly substantially into a plane containing the outer edges of said stiffening flanges.
 2. A tray as claimed in claim 1 wherein the curved corner portions project above the tops of the side walls and have external horizontal stiffening ribs at their top edges.
 3. A tray as claimed in claim 1 wherein said side walls have apertures therein. 